Antoinette Badenhorst on tue 3 may 05
Dear clayarters, I believe that I heard before of a type of fiber that can
be added to soft slabs to make them stronger. Can anybody put me in the
right direction with what this material is and where one can get that?
Thanks.
Antoinette Badenhorst
105 Westwood Circle
Saltillo MS, 38866
www.clayandcanvas.com
Taylor from Rockport on wed 4 may 05
Antoinette,
Chopped nylon fibers is what is talked about most often in handbuilding
books that I have read. Clay supply houses should carry it. You might try
any fiber that you think would work and see how it goes.
Chopped nylon (and other stuff) is also used in concrete to strengthen it,
so a building supply place or concrete place will probably have it. Be
careful because chopped FIBERGLASS is also used in concrete but you shure
don't want that in your studio.
Peace out,
Taylor in Rockport, TX
On Tue, 3 May 2005 21:36:55 -0500, Antoinette Badenhorst
wrote:
>Dear clayarters, I believe that I heard before of a type of fiber that can
>be added to soft slabs to make them stronger. Can anybody put me in the
>right direction with what this material is and where one can get that?
>Thanks.
>
...
Gary Harvey on wed 4 may 05
Yes paper. You can add paper to the slip and it will strengthen the clay. I
make it by mixing 1 container of paper pulp to 3 containers of slip. Take
newspaper and put it into a blender with water chop it till it is mush. I
put it thru a shedder first. Then mix thoroughly and let dry till usable on
a slab of plaster of Paris. I am sure there are other ways also to dry the
paperclay besides this. You also can use the paperclay slip to repair
greenware or add pieces it. One thing you should make a small amount first
and play with it paperclay isn't for everyone, because it is very sticky.
Bisque ware is more fragile that regular bisque ware. AND ventilate the room
well when you fire it because the paper will burn out and smoke will come
out of the kiln. Good luck. G. Harvey, Palestine TX
william schran on thu 5 may 05
Antoinette wrote:>Dear clayarters, I believe that I heard before of a
type of fiber that can
be added to soft slabs to make them stronger. Can anybody put me in the
right direction with what this material is and where one can get that?<
Many years ago Cutter Ceramics produced a clay that contained
"chopped nylon fibers". I used the clay a few times and was did
indeed useful for creating stronger slabs.
If you have not tried paper clay for your work, you may find it suits
your needs.
Bill
Vince Pitelka on thu 5 may 05
Years ago in graduate school I worked with chopped nylon fiber to strengthen
large slabs. I prefer it over paper pulp because it is stable. You can
make a big batch of clay and use it over a period of time without the fibers
breaking down and rotting.
One of the challenges is dispersing the fibers. At UMass and here at the
Craft Center we had Soldner mixers, and that makes it easy. I added a loose
handful of nylon fibers for every 100 lbs. of dry clay materials. Once all
the materials were added and the clay was mixed to the proper consistency, I
would just place the appropriate amount of fibers on the lid of the mixer,
and pull them apart with my fingers, dropping small amounts of loose fibers
through the holes in the mixer lid. This is time consuming, because you
must break up the fibers very thoroughly to avoid clumps in the clay. But I
found that if I was patient in adding the fibers, and let the mixer run for
twenty minutes or so after adding all the fibers, the dispersion was
thorough.
It is remarkable what you can do with fiber reinforced slabs. You can roll
out a slab 1/8" thick of almost any size and just handle it like a piece of
leather. They are incredibly strong, so you can drape them in ways you
could never get away with using an un-reinforced slab.
I finally abandoned the fiber-reinforced slabs because I was laminating
colored clay patterns onto the surface, and I ran into trouble when cutting
the slabs, with the fibers hanging up on the knife blade.
In some industrial applications they use chopped fiberglass fibers in clay
and cement products, and they are available from concrete suppliers, but you
would NEVER want to use them in studio clay, because fiberglass fibers are
serious skin irritants, and loose in the air they are carcinogenic. Anyone
who has worked with fiberglass insulation can testify to the problems
encountered.
Good luck -
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Craft, Tennessee Technological University
Smithville TN 37166, 615/597-6801 x111
vpitelka@dtccom.net, wpitelka@tntech.edu
http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka/
http://www.tntech.edu/craftcenter/
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